As mentioned in the Southern Vietnam post, we made it into
Cambodia via the Mekong River just fine but our river journey wasn’t over quite
yet. There were seven of us travellers and once we crossed the border we all
settled into our music or books and everything seemed to be going well. But
after about an hour down the river, our boat came to an abrupt stop in the
middle of the river. The captain seemed shocked and then quickly ran to the
back of the boat. After turning off the boat and the three crew members
investigating the problem, our guide informed us the engine had broke and we
would need to travel the rest of the way to Phnom Penh by a minibus. Floating
down the river pretty much smack-dab in the middle, we didn’t see how that was
going to happen. But once again our guide filled us in saying a boat would come
and transport us to the riverbank and then a minibus would pick us up. It would
take about an hour.
With not much else to do, we resumed listening to music or
reading until this boat was to come. About 45 minutes into our wait, we managed
to float to and anchor at a riverbank. Unfortunately it was the wrong side.
Shortly after that it began to rain. And then pour. Awesome.
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| Our boat anchored to a shrub in the river |
Finally after about an hour and a half long wait, we saw in
the down poured distance our saviour boat. By some rope they managed to pull us
“safety” to the other side of the river where we would then meet our minibus.
But first we needed to ascend a very muddy and very slippery hill to get to the
road. Realizing the dirtiness and wetness was inevitable, we embraced the mud
and the rain and eventually made it to our minibus. We were so happy to see the
driver and his two sons in the front seat and gladly got in the vehicle.
While we were thankful to be off the boat and river, we
weren’t the happiest of campers being dirty, wet and now also cold because of
the air conditioning. But it could be worse right? Right. We could have someone
vomit on us! And that’s exactly what happened between the two sons. We’re not
sure if he was carsick or what but about halfway to Phnom Penh, the older son
sitting in the back part of the front seat threw up on the younger son sitting
in between his legs. We were all shocked as to what happened and why but after
they both got cleaned up and sat back in the vehicle, we all had a bit of a
laugh led by the father/driver.
Eventually our adventure for the day came to an end when we
were dropped off at our hostel in Phnom Penh.
PHNOM PENH (June
16-18, 2013)
Phnom Penh isn’t anything too exciting to write about. It’s
another Asian city which isn’t a draw for us anymore. And compared to other
Asian capitals like Bangkok, it is very behind the times. It was probably one
of the rougher places we stayed in but our hostel was nice enough. The roads
are in pretty bad condition and for a small population of 1.5 million, there
were so many vehicles on the roads. Speaking of vehicles, all the Asian
countries we have gone through seem to have their own unique version of driving
around tourists and in Cambodia it’s a “tuk-tuk”, like in Thailand, but it is
pulled by a motorbike.
We planned for one full day to spend in Phnom Penh before
moving onto Siem Reap. It didn’t seem like there was much to see and do but we
were told the Choeung Ek Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (aka
S-21) were worth checking out. After reading a bit about them in our Lonely
Planet we were apprehensive to go but in the end booked transport to the two
places.
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| Our tuk-tuk ride on the way to the Killing Fields |
The Killing Fields was our first stop, about 20kms from
Phnom Penh. The Killing Fields were a significant area during the Khmer Rouge
Regime from 1975-79 where a large portion of the Cambodian genocide took place.
Although we had an idea of what we were
getting into, we were not mentally or emotionally prepared. I really don’t
think you could ever be though. Educationally speaking we learned a lot thanks
in part to the audio tour we got with admission. To be honest, we both didn’t
even know about the genocide until we started reading about it in the Lonely
Planet. And sadly, I don’t think a lot of the Western world knows about it. It
sure wasn’t something we learned about in social studies class. But on an
emotion level, wow was it difficult to take in. I think what got to us the most
was the personal accounts of what people went through played on the tour and
also knowing the skulls, rags and other displays around the grounds are REAL. We
were there for about an hour and a half and we left feeling pretty drained.
Our second but final site for the day was S-21. This museum
was once a high school converted into a prison/torture chambers set up by the
Khmer Rouge. It was one of the largest and most secretive prisons of its kind.
Many prisoners would be kept here for two to three months and would then be
shipped off to the Killing Fields.
Walking through the buildings here was equally as eerie as
walking through the Fields. But where the Fields had the personal accounts, the
museum had profile photographs of all the prisoners who passed through and were
later killed displayed in multiple rooms. The museum wasn’t set up that well
for educating people so I think a guide would be good. But we lucked out and
were able to attend a lecture put on by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia.
During the lecture we were given more facts about the Khmer Rouge Regime and
the history of the high school and S-21. After the lecture they held a Q &
A session where we were able to ask any questions we had about the regime after
visiting these two places.
By the time we returned to the hostel it was 3:30pm. Almost
a full day at these two places and we were absolutely burnt out. The Cambodians
have been through so much even within the last 40-ish years with being brought
into the Vietnam (-American) War and then almost immediately after the Khmer
Rouge Regime began. We are glad to be educated on their history but it was
heartbreaking to hear. It’s amazing the Khmers can still be so loving and
friendly to fellow Khmers and tourists alike.
The next day we decided to sleep in a bit and head to Siem
Reap in the afternoon. Our hostel was able to book us a minibus instead of the
regular bus for $3 more and shortly after being picked up we realized it was SO
worth it!
~~~
We were warned but the road between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap
was by far the worst we have experienced in SE Asia. Minibus or regular bus, it’s
brutal. Big bumps dot the roads, vehicles are constantly swerving or slowing
right down to avoid the many potholes and often times there are sections of
only dirt roads as opposed to paved ones. Our group was small (two drivers and
two locals) and our drivers were obviously experienced driving the roads so we
made it to our hostel in Siem Reap after six hours whereas buses can take
anywhere from 8-12 hours to make the same journey. We were feeling pretty rough
towards the end and so thankful to finally arrive.
SIEM REAP / ANGKOR
WAT (June 18-22, 2013)
Siem Reap is where we spent the bulk of our week in Cambodia
because only a few kilometres from the city is the where the main tourist
attraction lies – The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat, the ancient
city of Kampuchea (Cambodia). We had almost four full days in Siem Reap and
spent three of them exploring the temples. When we arrived at our hostel, we
booked a guide and transportation that evening so we could start the next
morning.
Day One of Angkor Wat was spent exploring the temples around
the Grand Circuit – Pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta Som, Neak Pean (although not open
to wander around), and Preah Khan. It was a bit on the expensive side to hire a
guide but we thought it was worth it. We learned a lot about the history of
Cambodia, government and politics over the years, what life is like for Khmers
these days and of course the significance and history of all the temples we
went to. By 1pm it was heating up quite a bit so we took off, doing more of a half first
day but it was a good start.
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| Pre Rup |
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| Preah Khan |
Day Two we went without a guide but had our same tuk-tuk
driver. We started off at Banteay Srei which is known for its pink limestone
and then next to Banteay Samre which was much quieter and more enjoyable. Our tuk-tuk driver was nice enough to lend us a guide book so we were able to educate
ourselves on these temples and the other ones we went to. We then made our way
to the Roluos Temples which are the oldest in the area but didn’t get to see
too much before it started raining.
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| On the way to Banteay Srei in the tuk-tuk |
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| Banteay Srei |
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| Banteay Samre |
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| At the top of Bakong, Roluous Group |
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| Apsara dance |
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| Pailin peacock dance |
Our third and final day at the temples started with a 4:30am
wake up to get to Angkor Wat in time to see the sunrise over it. Well
unfortunately like many other sunrises we have woken up for this was another
disappointment. It was far too cloudy and as expected too many people for our
liking. Although it was apparently pretty quiet compared to peak season. After
the sunrise we started our tour through Angkor Wat with our guide again. We
then went for some breakfast and then onto the other bigger temple complex in
the area, Angkor Thom spending most of our time in Bayon. We ended the day at
Ta Prohm which is known for its involvement in the “Tomb Raider” film with
Angelina Jolie. This was quite possibly our favourite temple because nature has
taken over and there are these massive strangler trees that are growing out of
and around the temples. Great one to end our three-day pass with.
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| Sad sunrise at Angkor Wat |
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| Inside Angkor Wat |
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| Bayon, Angkor Thom |
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| Bayon, Angkor Thom; courtesy of Thim, our guide |
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| Adrian with one of the trees in Ta Prohm |
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| THE strangler tree of Ta Prohm |
Our fourth and last full day in Siem Reap was spent wandering around the
markets and doing some gift and souvenir shopping. Siem Reap was a nice place to spend a decent
amount of time. “Pub Street” was a great place to eat and drink and our hostel
was only a short walk away. The touters were constantly asking you if you
needed a tuk tuk ride and there were more child beggars than we would have
liked to see but after refusing once, they would back off. It was a nice change
from the aggressive and persistent nature of Vietnamese and Thai touters. And
the people overall were lovely. We actually had a normal conversation with some
of the ladies working in the markets.
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| Pub Street |
We were a bit sad to be leaving Siem Reap/Cambodia that
evening but at the same time we were heading to the Philippines to do some
island hopping and how could you not look forward to that?! It wasn’t the best
time for a flight (10:30pm, arriving in Manila at 2:10am) but at $70 each we
could deal with the time.
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